M E M O R I Z E (MEMORIZE)

MEMORIZE EP.8

Kim Su-Hyun, Beginning the Rite of Passage. Pt.(1/3)

The Preparation Room. A place I haven’t seen for a long time. The room was well-appointed, any person who gazed on the Preparation Room without any context behind it would think it a perfectly replica of any room on Earth.

I came to a sudden epiphany, Angels really did like to focus on the most useless things. When I first came here, due to the sheer Earth-like environment, I tried to open the main door and leave. Of course, the door wouldn’t budge and I remembered how I wallowed in despair. I wondered if this was done on purpose so the Angel’s can poke fun at us.

Time remaining till the Rite of Passage: 03 Minutes and 26 Seconds.

“3 minutes and 27 seconds. I need to hurry.”

I walked toward the large, eye-catching box that was dumped in the middle of the room. Sitting in its corner, I opened the box. Inside was various items and equipment necessary for the Rite of Passage. I smelled like crap, but right now the most important thing was finding cloth to wear. Seraph was Seraph so it didn’t matter, but I was near naked and if I was to be transferred to the Rite of Passage right now, I would be labelled as a pervert forever.

Digging through the box I saw one skintight cloth and discerned instantly that it had extremely good stats. But I just didn’t have the courage to wear something like that. Lifting this and that out of the box for a while, I went with simple clothes in the end. The underwear, socks, shoes, shirts and pants I chose were all common variety. Though they were all dark colours as to prevent stains.

Though considering the standard of the Rite of Passage, I could take it on naked and finish it within the day. If I wanted to, I could destroy everything within and it wouldn’t even be a workout. But I had no plans to leap through right from the beginning. The biggest reason I survived for 10 years in Hall Plain was that I always hid 30% of my skills. Except for the times when my life was truly at stake, I made sure to never reveal myself.

‘Which weapon should I go with….’

When I came to choosing my weapon, I pondered for a bit. Just with my bare fist, I could make mincemeat of the boss monster found in the Rite of Passage, but having one would come in handy. Still, I had a plan to enact in this Rite of Passage. So just in case, I picked one tall sword and a detachable crossbow, and packing as many arrows as I could I closed the box.

After picking up the mass of arrows, I looked up in the air. I manage to see the remaining time converge to 0.

Preparation Room time has ended. Player Kim Su-Hyun will now be summoned to the Rite of Passage.

“Okay. Was I the last one?”

Yes. Regardless, Player Kim Su-Hyun I wish you luck. I shall begin the process for the transfer.

It was then.

Uwung!

I could feel the Summon spell being chanted in the air and a sharp tug on my navel.

The summon began.

*****

Transfer complete. Rite of Passage is a test which will see if you have what it takes to earn the entitlement to enter Hall Plain. To pass the test, you must survive for 7 days or arrive at the central warp gate within the 7 days. Player, I wish you luck.

The transfer was complete. Breathing in the fresh air and I looked around. I could feel the fragrance of the air subtly changing. Trees, grass, dirt, seeing it all it seems like I was in a middle of a forest. The forest air was clean and the wind was refreshing, but there was this unpleasant sticky feeling engulfing the area.

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‘Well, for now, why don’t I see which Players I started off with.’

I personally thought the Rite of Passage was extremely important. Hall Plain was not a place you could survive alone. A party was necessary, even if it was built to take advantage of each other.

The Rite of Passage was a place that took modern, everyday people from their routine and breaks them out of it, with a condition to ‘survive.’ Another point of the Rite of Passage was for ordinary people who knew nothing to band together and reach the goal. (I was a special case with this being my second time, so consider me as an exception for the time being.) A lot of the times the Player who banded together and survived the Rite of Passage formed close ties even after entering Hall Plain. So my plan was to search for members to form ties with during this Rite of Passage.

‘Of course, I can’t let just anyone become a comrade.’

The point I was summoned to was one of the place indicating the start of the Rite of Passage. Or in other words, the starting point. The 10-year veteran me could speak of this event with little affecting me, but when I had first entered this place knowing nothing, I thought it was evil personified. This place was so bad it was enough to instil trauma even after entering Hall Plain.

Slowly clearing up my heart, I began looking around. Clearly, I wasn’t only me that was transferred here. I saw people sitting restlessly out in the middle of the clearing, apprehension filled on their faces.

“Oppa…. Did you just see that person materialise?”

“Sol. Be quiet.”

“What do we do…. We are not the only ones….”

“Keep still. That person does look our age.”

Hearing their conversation, it seems they are brother and sister. I walked toward the clearing where the people were gathered. The atmosphere had sunk into quietness. Well, if they were shoved into the Rite of Passage abruptly and were told to survive it would have been a total chaos. But every person here was debriefed by an Angel, even me in the past.

‘This is the starting point. This is the past so I must have met the same people the first time around…. So what happened afterwards? I don’t recall….’

Counting the number of people in the empty lot, there was total of 8 sitting around. Was it possible to combine forces with these 8 for the remaining 7 days of the Rite of Passage? I can confidently say, ‘No.’

The conflict would come next. This wasn’t Hall Plain, but a place you passed once and never came again. With the strength I have, saving everyone here was child’s play. But truthfully, I didn’t want to or thought to.

Flaunting my skills freely in front of these people and letting them enter Hall Plain with evidence of my skill was something that had to be avoided at all cost. Gossip had the biggest effect of making a person famous or well known. The Players in Hall Plain took an initiative in protecting their vested interests, and if they heard a Player who used Magic before passing the Rite of Passage or defeat an overwhelmingly powerful monster? If such rumours spread, there would be so many troubling incidents, let alone the possibility of getting killed by ‘Rogues.’

Also, I wasn’t a good samaritan. There were times that I performed a good deed in Hall Plain, but I also performed evil without reserve when it was necessary. Theft, plunder, rape and even murder. Hall Plain was a place where such was the norm and not one person existed who would argue about it.

Anyways, the most important thing in this place was choosing the right people. If I met a person who was a worthwhile comrade, them knowing or not, I would have to nurture them in becoming a proper Player for at least a year.

The first thing I set out to do after I had entered Hall Plain was to gather comrades. The Rite of Passage was a suitable place to execute my plan. There was a total of three standards I was looking for in my compatriots. First, Attributes and Potential. Second, Alignment. Third, Affinity. I have said a lot of things, but the gist of it is that if the person was worthy to be my comrade I would rescue them, if not, I didn’t care if they lived or died.

‘I guess it’s time to use my Third Eye.’

In the clearing, everyone was separate from each other except for the siblings. After choosing a suitable place, I also sat down and quietly began to observe the people around me. If I was lucky, there is a chance I might run into a familiar face.

The first person that entered my sight was a woman who was wearing a bank uniform. Her overall impression was average, but her round eyes were twitching and her lips were trembling. It seems she still hadn’t accepted this as reality. I could understand where she was coming from, but first I decided to active my Third Eye. I only needed to choose people I needed….

< Player Status >

1. Name : Lee Bo-Rim(Year(s) 0)

2. Sex : Female(27)

3. Height · Weight : 164.7cm · 58.3kg

4. Alignment : Neutral · Chaos

[Strength 5] [Resistance 8] [Agility 11] [Vitality 7] [Magic Power 9] [Luck 11]

(Remaining attribute point: 0 point.)

‘Huk.’

Forcing down a smirk, I collapsed her Player window. The initial Attributes were affected by the physique. More so, the potential that the Player had was multiplied and then shown. This meant that female might not necessary have a lower physique stat than a male.

However, even for a woman’s potential, Lee Bo-rim was below average. Helping such Player survive and enter Hall Plains was absolutely good for nothing at my level.

I digress for a bit, but after entering Hall Plain and a Player begins training, the Attributes grew quickly at first. I having already reached my limits, made it difficult to increase my Attributes through training. But every Player that started normally had no such restrictions. Regardless, even taking such factors into consideration, it was only after they passed their first summit that the Player looked promising. But what the hell was up with this person….

Clicking my tongue, I turned my gaze to the others in the clearing. My next target was the siblings who were glued to each other. The brother looked quite young, but seeing the frown on this forehead he seemed sharp. He looked younger than me, I wondered if he was one of those ‘cool kids’ as I noticed his trashy demeanour. Lying in front of them was a single pair of longsword and a shield. It was an acceptable choice.

The girl was stuck to him like glue, a sight that would disgust all singles…. Ah right, they were siblings. Carrying on, her head was bowed so I couldn’t see her face clearly but she looks more well-behaved than her brother.

< Player Status >

1. Name : An-Hyun(Year(s) 0)

2. Sex : Male(22)

3. Height · Weight : 178.8cm · 73.2kg

4. Alignment : True · Neutral

[Strength 48] [Resistance 47] [Agility 52] [Vitality 51] [Magic Power 35] [Luck 56]

(Remaining attribute point: 0 point.)

< Player Status >

1. Name : An-Sol(Year(s) 0)

2. Sex : Female(19)

3. Height · Weight : 160.1cm · 45.2kg

4. Alignment : Lawful · Good

[Strength 8] [Resistance 17] [Agility 15] [Vitality 21] [Magic Power 75] [Luck 100]

(Remaining attribute point: 0 point.)

‘That’s insane, what is up with her? Magic Power 75? Luck 100? Right from the start?’

Attributes that was beyond common sense. I almost cried out in shock, but I closed my mouth shut and barely managed to prevent a fiasco.

Strictly speaking, An-Hyun is competent. That guy, as long as he doesn’t suffer any unusual situations, could easily pass the Rite of Passage. He had enough potential to enter Hall Plain and live through it. While vexing to admit, his starting Attributes were higher than mine. Anyways, An-Hyun’s Attributes were at a level that one would think, ‘yeah it’s possible.’

The reason I was truly shocked was when I glanced at that female, An-Sol, Attributes. It was truly bizarre. Not much to say about her Strength, Resistance and Agility. But starting off at 75 points of Magic Power and 100 points for Luck was completely preposterous in Hall Plain. I carefully sifted through my memories.

’I don’t recall an An-Hyun…. An-Sol…. Wait, An-Sol? Sol? ’

When the name Sol popped up, I suddenly recalled from the list of Secret Class I could choose with my privilege.

In my first run in Hall Plain, the Secret Class ‘Priest of Brilliance’ made its appearance. I think the other name for it was the final boss of all Priest Class? At that time a Player named ‘Sol’ had earned that Class, and soon after joined the Odin Clan, a Clan that was composed with only the best Players.

An-Sol, and Sol. Only the name was similar, but seeing An-Sol’s Attribute, the chance of it being her was high. Seeing the two were a sibling, I probably had to make sure both of them lived through this. Compared to the bank clerk Lee Bo-Rim, these two had unparalleled Attributes. They were suitable enough to be my comrades.

With such strong impact from these two, this time around I decided to look counterclockwise. The two people that were selected with my Third Eye was the two guys.

On the left was a guy who looked fit, but he was short and looked old. His nose was a bit bent, his rough skin gave off a vulgar impression. His gaze was constantly shifting around, looking everywhere, I thought he was trying to grasp the situation.

Next, on the right was a male who was wearing a school uniform. Below his eyes I could see tear stains on his pale complexion, he looked quite young. On the outside, he looked modest, but seeing his whole body crouched down with his arms around his legs, trembling, it was quite a sad sight to see.

‘I can’t recall…. What about his Player Status?’

< Player Status >

1. Name : Park Don-Gul(Year(s) 0)

2. Sex : Male(39)

3. Height · Weight : 179.4cm · 73.2kg

4. Alignment : Devil · Chaos

[Strength 31] [Resistance 26] [Agility 39] [Vitality 29] [Magic Power 29] [Luck 7]

(Remaining attribute point: 0 point.)

< Player Status >

1. Name : Lee Shin-Wu(Year(s) 0)

2. Sex : Male(18)

3. Height · Weight : 170.7cm · 58.4kg

4. Alignment : Lawful · Good

[Strength 25] [Resistance 23] [Agility 21] [Vitality 27] [Magic Power 35] [Luck 57]

(Remaining attribute point: 0 point.)

I am not sure if An-Hyun and An-Sol’s stats were so shocking, but Park Don-Gul and Lee Shin-Wu’s Attributes were not that bad. (But I am not saying it’s that good either.)

With Park Don-Gul’s basic Attributes he should be able to survive the Rite of Passage, the only problem was his Alignment. It was very rare for Devil and Chaos Alignment to show up together. It was most probable that Park Don-Gul was a criminal, and the chance of him becoming a ‘Rogue’ in Hall Plain was one and the same.

Lee Shin-Wu was the polar opposite to him, his Attributes slightly lacking to pass the Rite of Passage but his Magic Power made up for it. Considering his high Luck Attribute, this suggested that his potential was quite high. His character must be innately good as well, as Lawful and Good Alignment appearing together was also rare.

Except for me and that Park Don-Gul guy, everyone was busy searching out their neighbours. But unlike the others, there was this greasy, unpleasant craving in Park Don-Gul’s eyes. His lecherous eyes were shifting and focusing only on the various women in the clearing. I had seen eyes like his a thousand times, even I had eyes like that once back then. I could roughly identify his transgression. Although it was pure guesswork, I think I know what crimes Park Don-Gul probably committed.

I was more convinced, after seeing how he was licking his lips looking at the girl sticking close to An-Hyun. With my past, I had no right, but even then I couldn’t help but think of him as a miserable wretch.

Clicking my tongue, I was about to use my Third Eye on the remaining two women in the clearing.

“Ah, fuck.”

That moment, Park Don-Gul guttural voice resounded in the clearing.

===== Translator’s Note =====

Revised Romanization of Korean or 국어의 로마자 표기법 took over the McCune–Reischauer romanization in 2000 and according to that, my Romanization is wrong. What does this mean? Not much seeing there are no standard for Romanizing names and according to RROK name romanization is usually done through personal preferences.

But you should have noticed that names are now hyphenated, this is for better disambiguation and to differentiate syllables. Another big reason for this change is that An-Hyun and An-Sol doesn’t seem to have a family name.